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30 Rock

The cast of 30 Rock
  • Posted at 4:58pm
  • 10 January 2008
  • by AlisonGraham-RT
  • 9 comments

People are very precious about bedtimes. I note elsewhere on RadioTimes.com that a viewer is bemoaning the fact that the new Glenn Close legal thriller/murder mystery Damages went out at the supposedly ungodly hour of 10:20pm last Sunday. Far be it from me to question anyone's sleeping habits, but 10:20pm isn't late. A lot of us are still up and awake and we want to watch some decent telly.

I remember similar pouting when BBC1 broadcast its very, very good comedy series Outnumbered after the BBC 10 o'Clock News last year. Some sleepy viewers complained. But broadcasters know that there's a big audience out there of people who aren't actually climbing into their full-length Crimplene nighties, snuffing out their beeswax candles and hoping to have a recurrence of that very nice Hugh Laurie dream, the one where he turned up at their birthday party wearing only running shorts and a smile.

The fact is that, on BBC1, that post-news slot is a valuable TV hinterland where shows that aren't tailored for a big, mainstream peak-time audience can find a comfortable home.

But, having said all of that, there are limits. Now, I take a perverse pleasure in watching and adoring comedy series that either no-one has ever heard of, or which attract audiences of me, a hamster called Gordon with time on his hands, wakeful suburban serial killers and drug abusers.

But even my patience has been tested by the scheduling of 30 Rock, which has been left to die by Five at 11:35pm on Thursdays. It's a brilliant comedy - witty, furiously fast and wildly funny. But no-one's watching.

I won't kid myself that shunting it to an earlier slot will bring in joyous audiences of millions waving streamers and offering Five their youngest offspring in gratitude. After all, 30 Rock never found a wide circle of admirers in its homeland, America. When talented creator/writer/performer Tina Fey accepted 30 Rock's Emmy award last year, she pointedly thanked the series' "dozens and dozens of viewers".

But an earlier Five time slot might give 30 Rock a chance. All right, so shows set behind the scenes of fictional TV series are a bit too insidery for some tastes (30 Rock is based on Fey's experiences as a writer on Saturday Night Live). But it deserves every chance to succeed, because it's just so good.

**

Alison Graham is TV editor of Radio Times.

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Comments

  • Posted on 15 January 2009
  • at 9:38am
  • by Hyacinth

Just watched 3 episodes of 30 Rock back to back. Haven't laughed at sitcom so much in ages. Will definitely follow it despite odd scheduling (thank you Sky+)

  • Posted on 16 January 2008
  • at 11:40am
  • by Jones

Oh, and ThreeB, I may have mentioned this in the forums but Damages is available on the BBC's new iPlayer now. Eps one and two are both up there - but you only have two days left to see the first one! Oh, and it's also currently free on iTunes. And, finally, it gets a repeat showing on BBC1 at 11.35pm on Fridays.

If you can't find a way to watch it now, well, you're just not trying!

  • Posted on 16 January 2008
  • at 11:34am
  • by Jones

BBC2 did the same thing with Seinfeld - turned it into a double bill and stuck it in a midnight slot, as if they just wanted to get rid of it as quickly as possible! Why buy it in the first place then?

  • Posted on 12 January 2008
  • at 6:36pm
  • by wrinklyone

So what's wrong with my warm and comfy crimplene nightie? I think it's very nice, and so does my wife.

  • Posted on 11 January 2008
  • at 9:57pm
  • by nimnil

30 Rock is fantastic, and Alec Baldwin is a genius, as anyone who saw the episode "Jack-tor" can attest!

I just bought the DVD from the US and played it on my v cheap multi-region DVD, because while 10.20 is still pub time, 11.35 is sleepy bye bye time.

  • Posted on 11 January 2008
  • at 4:48pm
  • by ThreeB

Point taken about being early to bed.....although the picture that AG paints of the beeswax candles etc is more of an alter ego than reality..I admit i would like to be a Jane Austen heroine!

No I actually get up at 5.30 am on Mondays to do the long distance commuter run...surely i am not alone in this?

And with dreadful digital reception and video recorder ditched some years ago the option to record is just not there...!!

  • Posted on 11 January 2008
  • at 2:41pm
  • by kennymunro

Arrested Development, Seinfeld, Larry Sanders and Family Guy were all treated terribly by the BBC2 schedulers. King Of The Hill still receives the same from Channel 4 when it would have made a fantastic companion to the Simpsons at 6.30pm instead of bloody Hollyoaks.

How can it be that the terminally unfunny Ugly Betty gets a prime time slot on Channel 4 whilst 30 Rock is buried on Five ?

A simple answer for most people is record it. I hardly ever watch programmes when they are broadcast (live sport being the exception) such is the genius of Sky+.

  • Posted on 11 January 2008
  • at 10:50am
  • by danielianarlington

Sounds just like how it was with every series of the late, great, Arrested Development. The BBC insisted on putting that out at 11:20pm on a Sunday night, and I recall reading something of a similar vein that had been written by one of the critics here at Radio Times.

I suppose the shedulers will never get it all right.

  • Posted on 10 January 2008
  • at 6:14pm
  • by DEBrown

I'd have preferred Outnumbered to be on earlier, but not because I want to deprive people of good TV past the watershed. It's just that for a sitcom about the parents of small children, it's on too late for parents with small children. We generally have to be up at the crack of dawn so have to go to bed extra early. It's like living the life of a Today presenter, but being the ones on the receiving end of the persistent questioning.

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